UH Receives $3.3 Million Grant to Promote Women in STEM Fields

College of Technology Professor Holly Hutchins Plays Integral Role in Attracting and Retaining a More Diverse Faculty

The University of Houston has received a $3.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to increase the number of women faculty in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, as well as to ensure they have opportunities to move into leadership roles.

The five-year grant is part of the foundation’s ADVANCE program, which is intended to increase the number of women in academic science and engineering careers. The University will establish a Center for ADVANCING Faculty Success to oversee its goal of increasing female faculty recruitment in STEM fields, especially among women of color.

Co-investigators on the grant are Bonnie Dunbar, M.D. Anderson Professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering, director of the UH STEM Center and the aerospace engineering program; Joseph W. Tedesco, dean of the Cullen College of Engineering; Dan Wells, interim dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics; and Holly Hutchins, associate professor of human development and consumer sciences in the College of Technology.

Hutchins said the new center will be well-positioned to accelerate the recruitment, development and advancement of women STEM faculty, while the faculty team will lead activities to support gender equity across the campus.